Vaughan Williams Four Last Songs arr. Jonathan Wikeley

for SATB and piano or orchestra Jonathan Wikeley's choral arrangement of Vaughan Williams's Four Last Songs offers a new way to engage with these beautiful late works. The texts are by Ursula Vaughan Williams, and the set begins and ends with two poems that were inspired by Greek mythology. The opening song, 'Procris', and the closing song, 'Menelaus', have flowing piano accompaniments that remain unchanged from the original solo voice versions. The two songs in the middle, 'Tired' and 'Hands, Eyes, and Heart', are unaccompanied in this arrangement, with a double-choir texture that incorporates the original chordal piano line in a way that is consistent with Vaughan Williams's own double-choir writing.

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Four Last Songs Jonathan Wikeley’s choral arrangement of Vaughan Williams’s Four Last Songs offers a new way to engage with these beautiful late works. The texts are by Ursula Vaughan Williams, and the set begins and ends with two poems that were inspired by Greek mythology. The opening song, ‘Procris’, and the closing song, ‘Menelaus’, have flowing piano accompaniments that remain unchanged from the original solo voice versions. The two songs in the middle, ‘Tired’ and ‘Hands, Eyes, and Heart’, are unaccompanied in this arrangement, with a double-choir texture that incorporates the original chordal piano line in a way that is consistent with Vaughan Williams’s own double-choir writing. The songs are available in their original form, for solo voice and piano accompaniment, in the first volume of Collected Songs by Vaughan Williams. ALSO AVAILABLE FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem Soprano and baritone soloists, SATB, and large or small orchestra The Lark Ascending (arranged by Paul Drayton) SATB and violin Serenade to Music Vocal soloists/SATB with orchestra/reduced orchestra/strings and piano Vaughan Williams for Choirs, volumes 1 and 2 SATB and piano Cover illustration: Claude, Landscape with Cephalus and Procris Reunited by Diana, 1645. National Gallery, London. Artefact/Alamy Stock Photo. ISBN 978-0-19-356416-9 www.oup.com 9 780193 564169